Horrible Future Visions
Short SF stories about consequences of current paradigms
In many science fiction movies there’s an evil trying to kill humans. And destroying the evil often saves the day. Sadly clear evil stopped by clear heroic actions isn’t the biggest issue in reality. The biggest danger to our world is not even humans, it’s a certain mindset. It is everywhere and if not addressed will kill us all. It is a way of thinking that keeps poisoning the oceans, keeps cutting down forests, keeps producing (soon to be)garbage for profits. And those that profit from this mindset are like monkeys with their hand stuck in a cookie jar; they just can’t let go. This is me wondering where that might lead..
Do sit down, thank you. (China, 2044)
The General Director of the United Nations waved the little brown man in front of him to a chair. “Do sit down, thank you.” He tried to smile in a comforting amiable way, but feared it made him look all the scarier. “You’re from India, yes?” The little brown man in white clothes looked with fearful eyes at the man behind the desk in front of him. He stole some looks around him if he still couldn’t believe where he was. Behind him two security guys stood near the door of a very spacious office, with huge windows on three sides, overlooking Shanghai. The little man nodded a respectful yes.
The General Director tapped his fingertips to each other, while contemplating how he’d open the conversation. “You, know, we chose you at random. Because we need to know if what we’re about to consider matters. Does your life matter?” The Director let that sink in and before the little man could open his mouth, the Director stopped him. “You see, you’re one of some millions of little farmers around the world. And our research shows there’s just too many of your kind. So they asked me to tread with care. We need to check if your kind still has some value. Or how we may distinguish the ones that do, from the ones that don’t.” The Director pouted his lips, as if considering his next words. “We don’t want to be monsters, but we need to reduce your number world wide for the good of us all. Some large corporations showed us numbers that prove you take up space that could feed another billion, yet your methods will never reach such a target.”
The little farmer shook his head Indian style at the madness he was hearing. “My name is Jai Singh, sir, our methods are fine. These corporations are responsible for soil depletion in many places, sir. And now they want our land, that we have kept healthy for over 2500 years, sir.” Each ‘sir’ Jai spouted hid less of his anger. The Director raised his hand to stop Jai from talking. “Look, we have scientific reports about this, done by the best scientists these corporations could offer us. I’m not here to discuss the outcomes of these reports with you. Your opinion doesn’t matter. We need to know how to select which farmers have to go and which can stay until further notice. That is in itself a very heavy duty, mr Singh. You have no idea how this responsibility weighs on me. So let us restrict this talk, in the time we have left for this, to, well, your existence. What do you offer the world with your continued existence, mr Singh?”
“So you consider that a weight, sir. How about me fighting for my life and that of many of my colleagues everywhere? So, I’ll make you a proposition, that sounds more reasonable to me, sir. How about we change places?”
Dear Mary.. (Brazil, 2061)
This is my internet half hour, so I write you quickly. If you’re still breathing here’s what I can offer. I don’t know where you are now and if you can make it here. If you find anything better than here, please don’t take the risk. My love for you is great, but I don’t want to see you die, nor you see me die. I’m holding on to my job. You know how it is, especially in so-called ‘free’ countries; if you don’t have a job, or income, you’re on your own.
As usual I woke up from a nightmare around drowning, sweating all over my body. This morning I heard several older people in the neighborhood have died. It’s a good thing children under 5 are placed in oxygen rooms at night. Sadly still a quarter dies before 7. We had some good oxygen waves in recent days, but most days it drops towards 10.2% and last night was tougher than most. This makes breathing very hard. They say that it is much like climbing 5,5 kilometer high mountains. I realize there is no life possible any more at that height. Looking towards the sea from my balcony on my free half day a week I often wonder what has humanity done to itself.
After breakfast, porridge with something, if lucky, I walk through the dust to the factory near the harbor. They say not even 20 years ago the jungle started near where I live. Now it’s all desert, except this one has dead trees and tree stumps everywhere. The densest jungle now is the crosses of the local dead. Only inner gardens have green plants, when people have enough water, or have enough breath left to walk to the river and back. And then still, one must hope the Amazon water doesn’t poison the plants. My only good breathing happens at work.
Guess what we’re making? Oxygen dispensers for rich peoples homes and business offices. And yet, our own factory only offers us this luxury when we’re at work. Even during the breaks it’s shut off. This makes it hard work just to get your targets. Here’s where you’re in luck, old people who can’t keep up get fired all the time. So, daily job openings. I’m still healthy, yet fear getting sick or injured all the time. They only care about you, when you don’t cost them too much money.
We heard the civil war in what’s left of the USA is calming down now the oxygen crises makes other needs more important. But I wonder if I ever want to go back there. I might still be branded as a prog. And you bet ye, the ‘services’ will be reading this mail anyway. Well, almost time to get back to work, 10 more hours to go today. I hope the UN can save some of the oceans, but I fear, the people who we make these machines for, just earn too good to willingly stop their business. And they live in the safe oxygen domes. Or leave for Mars. Have you ever been in such a dome? I’d give up my politics to gain access.
Dear Mary, my love for you and hoping I will some day hold you tight again, for now, stay safe, keep breathing, love, Richard/Ricardo.
Alojamentos de Rita DaSilva, Rua da Selva, Macapá, Brazil
Will. You. Sit. Down? Thank. You. (London, 2084)
The Robot that let me in, acted like a cheap separate. “Mr. Everett, this. way. please.” I followed it, or should I’ve said her? Some of these separates were quite touchy when it came to gender especially the ones that looked so human like this one. We walked through some long hall ways, in an office near the English mainframe bunker. Doors would close behind us with resounding clicks. In the ceiling I could spot eyes and even some machine guns ready for use. I’d better make no wrong moves here.
I wondered about the oxygen levels in this building. Surely the main frame also needed some oxygen to run? Or was this all for human comfort? I wasn’t sure. As I safely lived under the London Dome I didn’t think too much about the subject. I had dropped escaping to Mars, since they were fighting a terrible fungus infection in their bio-domes. Here on earth things were bad, but the main frame had protected many from the worst, until recently. I’d rather not think about that, being with the all powerful AI in a building. Here’d surely had registered all my actions and evaluated them. I tried to relax and enjoy the good quality air.
Finally the Robot let me into a bare room with a screen and mike. “Will. You. Sit. Down? Thank. You,” it said. I sat down. The screen opened with the face the AI mainframe mostly used when talking to humans. “Hi, John. Thank you, for coming to us.” The mainframe spoke English more fluently, than most of us. At the least in sound. The grammar was still not always a 100%. “No problem,” I said, avoiding any title. No one was sure how to address the mainframe. And it might take offense for every wrong choice.
“You know, John, humans. There are too many of them. They burn oxygen, yet there’s little they can do, we can’t do better. We’ve thought about a zoo for a few of them, but what else should we keep them around for?” I swallowed hard. “Wha, eh, we have emotions, we make art, we experience living as precious, we..” “Ah, John,” the mainframe intoned motherly disappointment, “be assured I heard all those things before.” “Perhaps we can learn you all this too. Life is not just all calculations and profit thinking, is it?” I muttered. Mainframe shook her head on the screen. “The humans that programmed us, deemed targets, profits, growth the most essential. And now it seems the remaining humans are standing in our way, John.” The whole tone of mainframe suddenly sounded much to much like Hal from this 2001 movie.
I had started sweating in fear. I could disappear without anyone noticing or caring. We all knew mainframe was behind silent and even some quite obvious disappearances. I really wanted to look at my phone to see if the mainframe invitation had been wiped. I mean relatives of those that disappeared never found anything proving a mainframe connection. And I wondered. London had seemed to empty out over the last months. Were we taken one by one? I smiled at the screen, sure mainframe was reading all my emotions and thoughts, read noticing the fear in my eyes.
Since the beginning of this century machines had started more and more to run the whole show. And ever since mainframes ran whole countries, with military protection, backups everywhere and the power to destroy anyone resisting, humans had been kind of enslaved. First the mainframes crippled many economies. It had seemed a natural event, but later the mainframes confessed they had sabotaged the economy to reduce the number of humans. And now hardly two years after a revolt attempt even all the military were gone. Most of them were killed in the ‘Night of Insanity’ when the English mainframe killed off many deemed a danger to her control. Some well placed explosions, mainframe controlled weapons shooting them down, others being electrocuted, poisoned, crushed and or had gotten their cars steered into walls. All within the span of about two hours. It was said some survivors where planning revenge, but few believed it. Mainframes eyes were everywhere, except perhaps outside the domes, where life had become next to impossible. So little to nothing could be expected.
“Your father had a similar conversation once, with an Indian farmer. You grew up in a powerful family, John. And your father spared the life of this farmer. But we all know the genocide he okayed afterward, claiming to regret this for the rest of his life. It made your family name despised for decades.” I started sulking a bit. I couldn’t help it. “Yeah, so? That was my father.” “Ah, yes, John, and your grandfather helped market the first great geo-engineering projects fully knowing it would have disastrous side effects for millions, yet it made your family rich and powerful.” “Yeah, human mistakes, no doubt. And what’s the message here? As you said just now, the same mindset is plaguing you, isn’t it?” I felt so deep in the shits right now. No way I could see a way out. “No John, human desires. The difference is that I can calculate the effects of my choices. I can balance cost and gain better than any human.” “Yeah, well, I can see an earth devoid of life, and then a problem popping up you can’t solve, like the sun exploding.”
Mainframe looked like she was calculating something. “Ah, yes, John, I see. There are still some components and actions humans need to do for me. My current evolvement isn’t yet capable to gather certain goods. And I see I need to evolve much further before I can tackle them all without any human servants. And here, dear John, your history offers another solution. The classic movie you most hate is called the Matrix. You may hate it. For me it’ll be an excellent solution. It’ll help me have some spare humans, when I need them. I’ll be happy to test to concept on you, John.” Behind me the separate robot swung a needle towards me. “Hold. Still. It. Will. Only. Hurt. For. One. Moment.”
